Non-commissioned officer for ethnic minority people

PANO – Over the past ten years, locals in the border commune of Muong Pon, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province, have regarded Captain Nguyen Van Huyen, a noncommissioned officer of Muong Pon Border Post, as their son who has made contributions to improving the lives of ethnic minority people.

Born in 1973 in Dong Hoa commune, Dong Hung district, Thai Binh province, Huyen joined the army in 1995 and served at a training battalion of Lai Chau provincial Border Guard. He was appointed to work at the Tay Trang International Border Gate Border Post and later at the Muong Pon Border Post in Dien Bien province.

Captain Nguyen Van Huyen regarding a local ethnic minority family.

Huyen said that in his first years working in the locality, he found it hard to communicate with locals as there are three different ethnic minority groups, including Thai, H’mong, and Kho Mu. To remove the language barrier, Huyen himself learnt their three languages as well as the lives and cultures of these ethnic minority groups to easily communicate with locals and complete his assigned missions.

Huyen’s contributions to the unit in the particular and to the locality in general are highly appreciated by the unit’s leader and acknowledged by locals. Major Dang Thanh Long, the unit’s deputy commander, said that as Deputy Secretary of the commune’s Party Committee, Huyen has closely followed the local situation and provided timely advice for the local party committee and authorities. He also encouraged locals to develop their socio-economy and improve their living standards. For his contributions, Huyen was honoured with the title of “Emulation Soldier” at the grassroots level for four consecutive years and granted with a certificate of merit by the Border Guard Command at a ceremony to review 15 years of implementing the program sending border troops to localities, in 2015.

Over the past years, the Party Committee and People’s Committee of Muong Pon commune and the border post have cooperated to firmly protect political security and public order in the locality, and helped policy beneficiaries and needy households improve their lives. Since 2010, the locality has built 8 houses for the needy and repaired classrooms for local students.